have just started and have been told that when I feel a pull simply keep the pressure on the line with your hand on the line and let the fish set the hook - all videos etc seem to give sa definite strike with the rod at the sign of a pull - any views?

Always strike on the take and for me that would be a pull with the line hand and co ordinated with a lift on the road.

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[COLOR="Blue"]"A fish seen is a fish nearly caught"[/COLOR]

I alway's lift into a take.It would be wrong to call it a strike,but it is certainly an action on my part to set the hook.
Welcome to the forum.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

I also, just lift the rod, its usualy all thats needed to set the hook home,
And also welcome to the forum, if your looking for info, this is the place.

Quite right, if you were to strike as you would, say with a float set up, you would be into a backcast .....................birdsnest

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Fear not if I steal from your side, as of yore, from paradise streams to fish Teifi once more.
BN based in Wolverhampton

'Strike' always conjures up a kind of sharp, jerky movement in my mind ... which is the last thing you want and a recipe for disaster.

As others have said what you're looking for is a prompt 'lift' into the fish to remove any slack line from the equation. From time to time, you get the frustrating 'pluck, pluck, pluck' from fish .... best to wait for the 'pull' to develop or try and induce the fish by making a change to the retrieve, speeding up, a quicker pull etc.

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[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

[url]www.wildfly.net[/url]

[url]http://www.gameanglinginstructors.co.uk/[/url]

You should always try and set the hook and not rely on the fish doing it for you. A fish will often reject the fly/lure if it feels something isn't right.

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How poor a thing, sometimes I find,
Will captivate a greedy mind - Isaac Walton.

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*****©(

As most have said a sharp lift of the rod when fishing lures or pulling flies is all thats needed ,but not to hard ,you will learn by your mistakes,when fishing static or river dries i just lift the rod and they normally hook themselves as they turn down with the fly.hope this helps

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GAIA INSTRUCTOR

as 3lb says and also make sure when you tighten keep it tight at all cost !. slack often ends in the fish geting off.

I don't strike either. I lift or tighten into a fish, which I think explains it better than strike.

This video of my mate lifting into a fish shows it better than words. It is about 20/25 secs. into the video. It is more of a relaxed movement rather than a jerk.

Fishtales Trout Fishing in Scotland Videos

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Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.